Chicken Tikka Panini? Starbucks’ New India Menu

Fancy a murg tikka panini? This is one of the items on Starbucks’ brand new India menu which – as expected – caters heavily to local tastes.

We took a look at its menu before its first shop in India, located in Mumbai’s Horniman Circle, officially opens to the public later Friday.

This is what we discovered: The drinks menu doesn’t feel particularly Indian, although the coffee itself is sourced and roasted locally. Prices range from 80 rupees ($1.50) for a plain espresso shot to 200 rupees for fancier concoctions like Starbucks’ “Caramel Frappuccino,” a blended coffee-based drink. The trademark “Chai Tea Latte” is in the menu although, as we noted earlier, to Indian ears this sounds like “tea tea latte.”

The food menu is where Starbucks made a real effort to adapt its offerings to local tastes. So their “panini,” Italian for sandwiches, are filled with a north Indian staple: murg tikka, chicken cooked in a tandoor oven. Made with soft focaccia bread and served warm, this is priced at 140 rupees.

More daring fusion experiments include the “Tamarind Peanut Chicken Calzone” (120 rupees). This may be the first time that the calzone, Italian folded over dough, meets the tamarind, a favorite southern Indian spice.

Other baked goods include the “Konkani Twist” (90 rupees) which looks like a cheese puff, but longer. It’s basically flaky croissant pastry filled with spicy mutton and twisted. Konkani, in case you were wondering, is a regional language spoken in the state of Goa and elsewhere on the western coast of India’s south.

The menu has no trace of beef or pork, which are taboo for many Hindus and Muslims, respectively.

Megha Bahree/The Wall Street Journal

Mugs at the Starbucks store.

To cater to the country’s many vegetarians, there are plenty of meat-free options, too. They include the “Chatpata Paratha Wrap” (130 rupees), Indian flat bread filled with spring onions, cheese, pepper and chaat masala, the ubiquitous Indian spice mix. But it doesn’t look as greasy as this description may suggest.

The menu includes a char-grilled sliced potato and pepper in a ciabatta sandwich (130 rupees). Potatoes are an Indian favorite and the main ingredient of a staple Mumbai street food: “vada pav,” a potato fritter in a bun.

Other options include the classic double chocolate muffin as well as a croissant with a desi twist: it has cardamom and mawa, a milk-based sweet (Elaichi Mawa Croissant, 130 rupees.)

The food is segregated into vegetarian and non-vegetarian counters. There also are separate ovens for the two.